Category: Poetry

Over the summer, I had a conversation with a friend who has 3 sons all under the age of eight. I told him about a type of poetry which actually can be fun to write – haiku. I asked him to have his sons to try it out and write a few. Since then I have been addicted to writing haiku (I haven’t written hardly any since I was in my twenties).

What is haiku?

The essence of haiku is “cutting” (kiru).This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images in the poetry.

Traditional haiku consists of at total of 17syllables using only three lines of poetry – strictly using 5, 7, and 5 syllables on each line.

It often incorporates a nature motif or a kigo (a seasonal reference).

I don’t always use nature themes, but I keep to the syllable restriction. Here is one of my favorites from this summer. It is a triad haiku – incorporating one poem from three haiku. It is called The Sea is Mine.

The streets are paved now.
Monday morning, the noise of rubber and asphalt.
Monday morning, the quiet balanced between two people walking down an alley way.
We waked up hearing the sound.
It was not singing.
It was curled.
It was like singing and it wasn’t singing.
And then it stopped and we heard the sound as if nobody had made it.